Talents

Ludovic HORREIN
Fellow research engineer (CERN)

> Doctorate in Electrical Engineering (University of Lille)
> Master’s degree in Electrical Energy Network Management (University of Lille)
> EEA Bachelor’s degree

Ludovic Horrein has the profile of a student who did not initially plan to enter the field of research or complete a thesis, or even to train for an extensive period of time.
When he had just obtained his « BTS » (advanced technician’s certificate) in electrical engineering (2-year undergraduate course), Ludovic still had many questions about his future path. It was during an open-day tour of the University of Lille that he discovered the EEA training courses (Bachelors and Masters) and the professional opportunities arising from them. He therefore decided to pursue his studies for 3 years to obtain his Master’s degree (5-year post-baccalaureate course). By starting this new course, it was clear to him that, after his Master’s degree, he would stop his studies.

At this time, he still had no plans to make the move towards the field of research. The turning point was in the last year of his Master’s degree when he was given the opportunity to complete a project in collaboration with Siemens on the energy modelling of underground railway systems. It was this first research project that prompted him to do a thesis with the career objective of joining an R&D department in a company. Consequently, he completed his thesis at L2EP in partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroën and with the support of the national research network on hybrid vehicles, MEGEVH. His thesis focused on the design of energy management strategies for hybrid vehicles which define the best power distribution in vehicles in order to reduce their consumption.

Thanks to the wealth of scientific knowledge he gained from his research and the alternative perspective he had of the scientific community by working alongside its members, he finally decided to move towards a more research-focused career. So he started a Fellowship (Post-Doctoral) contract at CERN for a period of two years where he pursues his work in the field of research.

Arnaud VIDET

Lecturer (L2EP of Lille)

> Electronics Research Engineer (Schneider Toshiba Inverter)
> Doctorate in Electrical Engineering (Ecole Centrale of Lille)
> Master’s degree in Electrical Energy and Sustainable Development research (University of Lille)
> Engineering School – 3rd year: Engineering of Electrical and Electronic Systems (Ecole centrale of Lille)
> Preparatory classes for the Grandes Ecoles

The case is worthy of mention given the rather extraordinary fact that the method developed by the young doctoral student for his thesis was patented. What’s more, he joined Schneider Electric and its joint venture Schneider Toshiba Inverter Europe (STIE) in October 2008 even before his viva in December of the same year.

Schneider Electric had co-financed this thesis with the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region and it was as part of L2EP’s Power Electronics team that the doctoral student worked on the design of « clean » variable speed drives, i.e. drives that release relatively little pollution into the environment (in terms of high frequency currents flowing in the installation and overvoltages applied to the powered motor), and developed a multilevel inverter control method.

Today, the engineer is pursuing his work in applied research addressing themes that are still related to his doctoral subject. « In particular, I am studying the possibility of using the multilevel inverter control method developed and patented during my thesis in one of our future products ».